The Mysterious ShyGuy
by The Fiercesomest Dragon Ever
Summary: COMPLETE! A purple shyguy walks past the Mario brother's house every day, wearing a yellow polka dotted party hat with a plate of spaghetti and meatballs balanced on top. Read on, as Luigi becomes obsessed...
1. Sock Soup

One day, Luigi was relaxing on the kitchen table, (what better place to relax than a place where food is constantly placed?), in the Mario brother's quaint little house in the mushroom kingdom, when he happened to look out the window and see a purple shy-guy walking down the street. The shy-guy was wearing a yellow, polka-dotted party hat, with a heaping plate of delicious-looking spaghetti with big meatballs in it balanced precariously on top.

"Hm, I wonder where that shy-guy is going?" Luigi pondered this thought, propping himself up on one elbow to watch the shy-guy walk down the street and out of sight, "That spaghetti sure looks good."

"Hey, weege," Mario, who was sitting at the table, grumbled, "would you mind keeping your feet out of my soup?"

"Oops. Sorry bro." Luigi apologized, "I was wondering why my sock felt wet."

* * *

Yes, I know it's short. It will get better, (and maybe longer), as it goes. 


	2. The Consequences of Sock Soup

The next day, Luigi was busy cooking a five-course meal for his brother to repay him for the sock-in-the-soup incident, when he happened to look out the window and see a purple shy-guy walking down the street. It must have been the same shy-guy, because it was wearing the same yellow, polka-dotted party hat, and had another heaping plate of spaghetti (with meatballs), balanced precariously on top. The spaghetti must have been fresh, because it was still steaming.

"Hm, I wonder where that shy-guy is going?" Luigi wondered. He stopped stirring the pot of Super Mushroom stew for a moment to watch the shy-guy walk down the street.

A whip cracked behind him, "Hurry up with that food!" Mario barked from the table.

Stirring furiously, Luigi grumbled, "Okay, okay. Sheesh, stick your sock in _one_ bowl of soup…"

The whip cracked again, "Stop grumbling, and start cooking!"

* * *

Hm... this chapter has _exactly_ the same number of words as the last chapter... 


	3. Super Detectives!

The day after that, Luigi saw the purple shy-guy walk by again; party hat, spaghetti, and all. And the day after that, and the day after that, and the day after that! It was getting creepy… where was it going?

The purple shy-guy had walked down the street with its party hat, and plate of spaghetti every day for two months. Finally, Luigi came to a conclusion:

"I have to find out what that shy-guy is doing!" he cried frantically. He rummaged in his desk until he found a notebook and pencil, then grabbed his 'detective hat' from the back of his closet, "This is a job for…" He safety-pinned a blue-and-yellow striped towel around his shoulders, "Super-Detective Luigi!" He frowned, "Hm. I've got to work on that name… It doesn't really have any ring to it. Oh well." He shrugged, "It'll have to do for now. I'd better go get my super-detective brother!"

Luigi raced down the hall, striped towel cape flying behind him, knocking over a vase of plastic flowers as it fluttered by. "Mario!" Luigi burst into the workshop, "There's a mystery to be solved! Let's go!"

Mario looked up from his game of solitaire, "Mystery? You mean that purple shy-guy wearing you've been obsessing over?"

"I have not!" Luigi crossed his arms over his overalls, "just because I constantly think about it every hour of the day doesn't mean I'm obsessed!"

"… you talk about it in your sleep sometimes." Mario added.

"I do?" Luigi put a finger to his chin, "Well, okay, so I'm obsessed. Please help me figure out what he's doing!"

"Luigi! I'm busy! I don't have time to run around town trying to figure out what some shy-guy is up to." Mario said, flipping another card, "and stop groveling like that; this floor hasn't been cleaned since 1991!"

"But…"

"OUT!"

Luigi left the workshop feeling dejected. He sighed melo-dramatically, "I guess I'll just have to… somehow… find out what that shy-guy is doing… without my big brother to help me." He dragged his feet as he walked down the hall, continuing pitifully, "Nobody to help me out when I trip during a high-speed chase… Nobody to brainstorm with over mind-boggling clues… Nobody to talk to during late night stake-outs…" He leaned back into the workshop wailing pathetically, "_Nobody_ to share peanut-butter and jelly sandwiches with on snack breaks…" he leaned over Mario's shoulder, "_No-o-body_ to-"

"Alright, ALRIGHT!" Mario shouted, covering his ears, "If I help, will you stop bugging me!"

"Yup." Luigi smiled happily.

"Can I get that in writing?" Mario whipped out a pad and pen.

"Sure…" Luigi took the pen, "I, Luigi, hereby promise that, if my brother Mario agrees to go detective-ing with me, I will stop bugging him. About this." He handed the pen back to his older and shorter brother, "Good?"

Mario nodded, "Good." He rolled up the paper and shoved it into his overalls, "Let's get this over with."

"Wait! You need a costume!" Luigi cried.

"Why do I need a costume?"

"To protect your secret identity!"

"My identity isn't…" Mario sighed, seeing that he wouldn't get anywhere by arguing, "Fine. We can look for a costume."

"Yay!" Luigi jumped for joy, "We'll start detective-ing tomorrow!"

"Tomorrow?" Mario stopped, eyebrows raised, "Why tomorrow?"

"You want a quality costume, right?" Luigi grabbed Mario's hand and dragged him rapidly down the hall to their room, "Come on!"


	4. Costumes!

The next day, Luigi spent the entire morning staring out the kitchen window, surveying the street with a pair of binoculars. Of course, the street was only a few feet away, so every stone and piece of discarded chewing gum was magnified to fifty times its normal size.

"Ooh, that one looks pretty fresh!" Luigi focused the binoculars on a piece of orange gum, "Oh, man! Some big foot just stepped on it! Eww…" He pulled the binoculars away from his face, "GASP! It's the purple shy-guy!"

Sure enough, the purple shy-guy, wearing his yellow, polka-dot party hat with a fresh plate of spaghetti balanced on top, was walking down the street just like before.

Luigi rocketed through the house to his room. In a flurry of clothing and stray paper clips, Luigi became… duh, duh, duh, DUH! Super Detective Luigi!

"MARIO! GET YOUR COSTUME ON!" He shrieked, hoping his brother was within hearing distance as he raced back down the hall to the front door. He stood there, bouncing impatiently, waiting for Mario. "HURRY!"

"I'm coming, I'm coming." Mario's muffled voice called from his room.

Luigi opened the door a crack and peered out. The purple shy-guy and his big plate of spaghetti were gone. They had missed their chance. He heaved a sigh and closed the door. He shook his head and turned around just in time to see Mario hurriedly stagger around the corner, dressed in a yellow-and-black striped blazer, a ridiculous-looking turban, and dark sunglasses.

"I'm here! What are we waiting for?" Mario asked, lifting the sunglasses up so he could see.

"We're too late." Luigi sighed, un-safety-pinning his towel/cape, "We'll have to try again tomorrow."

"You mean I have to get this costume on again?" Mario groaned.

Luigi considered this, "Hm… well, since it took you so long to put it on in the first place, maybe you should sleep in it. In fact, we should move our mattresses right up next to the door so we don't have to waste time getting here. I'll go get some blankets!"

Mario clapped a hand over his eyes, "Me and my big mouth…"


	5. Early to rise

Luigi was awake and fully costumed by 5:22 a.m. He sat by the kitchen window with his binoculars, munching on a week-old peanut-butter and bologna sandwich.

"Hmm…" he scanned the empty street, "I wonder where everybody is? GASP! That shy-guy could have kidnapped them! This is horrible! That fiend must be stopped at all costs…" Luigi stroked his silky, black moustache, "… but how?"

Mario stumbled groggily into the kitchen, "Weege, it's still dark out. What are you doing up?"

"That would explain the absence of small, mushroom-like citizens…" Luigi mumbled to himself. "I don't want to miss that shy-guy. He could come at any time." He scanned the dark and empty street again.

"Hasn't he always walked by right around lunchtime?" Mario rubbed his eyes.

"……." Luigi pondered, "….. um……. yes… But what if he comes early?"

Mario looked at him, deciding whether to bother answering or not. After several sleep affected minutes, he decided, "I'm going back to bed."


	6. Bush Divers

_Thank you Nando, for being my first reviewer!_

_I'm surprised no one else has reviewed too, but I'm writing this mostly for my own enjoyment, so it doesn't matter._

_Reviews or not, I hope that everyone has as much fun reading it as I did writing it!_

* * *

Just before lunch, on the same day, Luigi sounded the alarm- 

"THE PURPLE SHY-GUY IS IN RANGE!" he screamed as he raced to the door.

"In range of what? Your screaming?" Mario wiggled a finger in his ear.

Luigi frantically flung the mattresses out of the way, "It doesn't matter, just hurry!" he grabbed Mario by the sleeve and bolted out the door. Looking frantically for a place to hide, he cried, "Quick! Behind these bushes!"

"But we don't have any bushes by our house-" Mario's sentence remained unfinished as Luigi, still grasping his sleeve, dashed madly across the street and made a flying leap into their neighbor's carefully trimmed topiary. Leaves flew everywhere, and the beautiful lion-shaped bush was mangled and mussed until it looked like the residue of some kind of plant-explosion.

"There he is!" Luigi hissed and pointed. Sure enough, the purple shy-guy with his plate of spaghetti balanced carefully on top of his yellow, polka-dot party hat walked calmly down the street.

Mario spat out a mouthful of leaves, "So what's the plan?"

"Um… we… follow him!" Luigi whispered. He actually hadn't thought of anything remotely plan-like, other than the sleeping-in-front-of-the-door-thing. Luigi poked his head up out of the bush, "let's go!"

Suddenly, there was a horrible scream, coming from the open window directly behind Luigi's head. The front door opened and an elderly toad-maid dashed out, broom in hand, shrieking at the brothers, "You- you- you VANDALS! YOU DESTROYED MY HAND-TRIMMED, PRIZE-WINNING TOPIARY!" She began to repeatedly whack Luigi over the head with her broom, "YOU HORRIBLE HOOLIGANS! YOU DASTARDLY DELIQUENTS!" She swiped Mario a good one across his rather large nose. The brothers fought for their lives, struggling frantically to get free of the demolished topiary and out of reach of the maid's broom. "YOU TERRIBLE- uh," she paused momentarily, calling back inside the house, "Honey, what's a word that starts with 't' and means 'vandal'?"

"How 'bout 'troublemakers'?" her husband called back.

She shrugged, "Not very original, but in this case, it will do." By this time, of course, Mario and Luigi had escaped from the bush's vegetative clutches, and run back across the street. Disappointed that she was too late to emphasize her last line with her broom, she yelled, "ONE DAY, YOU'LL PAY FOR THIS! IN CASH!"

* * *

"Whew… that was… close…" Mario panted, leaning against the dumpster behind their house. He rubbed his nose, "Ouch! That smarts…" 

"Cheer up, bro," Luigi pulled off his detective hat, "At least that toad-maid probably didn't recognize us with our costumes on." His face fell, "But the shy-guy got away again… well, I guess we'll just have to try again tomorrow."


	7. Evening Run

Later, on the same day the 'topiary incident' occurred, Princess Peach was sitting down to an elaborate, seventeen-course meal with her good friend, Daisy, when through the window, all the way across the enormous dinning room, she caught site of a most peculiar thing.

"I wonder what that shy-guy is doing?" she wondered out loud.

"What?" Daisy looked quizzically at her royal friend.

"Look," Princess Peach ran to the other end of the room and pointed out the window, "don't you see him?"

Daisy leaned close to the glass, "Where? I don't see anything?"

"On the road. It's a purple shy-guy…" she squinted, "and it looks like he's wearing… a yellow, polka-dot party hat… with a plate of spaghetti balanced on top of it…"

"Where did a shy-guy get such wonderful fashion sense?" Daisy tugged the sleeve of her similarly yellow dress. Her face lit up suddenly, "We should go and ask him!"

"What a wonderful idea!" Peach rang a small, silver bell, and one of the mushroom-like toads attending her rushed to her aid, "Keep the food warm, Toadsmill; Daisy and I are going out for a bit."

---------------

The two of them hurried out into the evening, high heels and all, to catch up with the purple shy-guy with the yellow, polka-dot party hat and plate of spaghetti balanced on top.

They chased him for half an hour, and were gaining, but, unused to running long distances as they were, the two girls soon ran out of energy and started slowing down.

Breathing heavily, and yet delicately, Daisy called out, "Wait, Mr. shy-guy! WAIT!"

The shy-guy didn't wait.

"We need to ask you something!" Daisy tried again.

The shy-guy kept on walking.

"PLEASE!" she pleaded breathlessly.

Still, the shy-guy walked on, the plate of spaghetti bouncing dangerously in rhythm with his small step.

Peach took a deep breath, and, in that official voice reserved for those times when Mario and Luigi decided to try and play tennis with her royal bowling ball in the throne room, right next to her collection of rare, valuable, and very-breakable glass objects, she shouted, "STOP! I ORDER YOU TO _STOP_!"

Finally, the shy-guy stopped. He turned around ever so slowly; ever so nervously. As soon as he caught a glimpse of the two girls behind him, the purple shy-guy screeched in fright and sped off, plate of spaghetti and all, over a distant hill, leaving a cloud of dust in his wake.

"Oh, koopas!" Daisy stamped her small foot on the road, "He ran away! Now we may never get to ask him about that incredibly fashionable hat. What do you think made him take off like that?"

"Maybe he was intimidated by our royal presence." Peach put a finger to her chin. "Hm… oh well. I suppose we should be getting back to the castle. Maybe we'll see that shy-guy again sometime, and we can try and ask again."

* * *

_Little does she know, heh heh heh, little does she know…_


	8. Non Purple ShyGuy Party Invitation

The next day…

At the Mario brothers house…

Luigi stood just inside the front door, fully costumed, and armed with a fly-swatter, a water pistol, and a bent Frisbee, "We'll find out for sure what that shy-guy is up to today!" He said, waving the fly-swatter in the air.

Mario poked his head out of the kitchen, "Not today, Weege. You promised to be at Yoshi's birthday/karaoke party, remember?"

"Huh?" Luigi lowered his fly-swatter as he slipped into flashback mode…...

"_Yoshi, yo-yoshi. Yoshi?" Yoshi asked._

"_What was that?" Luigi leaned down slightly, as if that would help him understand._

"_Yoshi, yoshi! Yoshi-yoshi yoshi?" Yoshi bounced up and down, gesturing with his hands and tongue._

"_Ooh! I love this game! Um, a rabid squirrel?" Luigi guessed, "No? Er, an elephant having a heart attack?"_

"_Yoshi!" The green dinosaur handed Luigi a card._

"_Hm." Luigi opened it, "I'm invited to your birthday/karaoke party next week? Sure I'll come!"_

_Yoshi jumped for joy, "Yoshi!"_

...… he slipped back out of flashback mode…

"Oh, yeah." Luigi dropped the fly-swatter and took off his detective hat, "I guess I got distracted by all this purple shy-guy business and forgot." He sighed, his shoulders drooping, "I guess we can pick up the case again tomorrow… Keep your eye out for that shy-guy… I'll see you later, bro."

"Don't worry; I'll watch for him." Mario assured his green-clad brother, "You just head on off to that party and have some good, non-purple shy-guy fun."

Luigi shed the rest of his costume and hurried out the door.

The door swung closed, and clicked shut behind him.

"YESSSSSS!" Mario leaped into the air, performing a perfect quadruple backflip with an inch and a half-quarter turn corkscrew, landing upright in the hall, "A day without Luigi obsessing over that purple shy-guy!" he took off eagerly down the hall, "Now I can finally get some work done!"


	9. Yoshi's Birthday Party

_Quick author's note:_

Thanks, Nando the RPS King for the reviews! It's good to know somebody likes this story.

And Pyro Flare: Yes! I've always wantedthe internet! From now on, you'll have to pay your $29.25 to me, and me alone! Mwahahahaha!

... or not.

On with the story-

* * *

Luigi hurried down the street, dodging through several backyards, to get to Yoshi's house. 

He regretted not being able to spy on the purple shy-guy today, but it couldn't be helped. Luigi sighed, "Well, I guess tomorrow is better than nothing…" he looked up, "Ah, here we go. Yoshi's house."

The green dino's house was a one-story bachelor pad surrounded by prehistoric-looking greenery, (and a good many fruit trees). From the mailbox flew three, white balloons with green spots, and festively colored eggs lined the walkway to the door.

Luigi hopped cheerfully from one stepping-stone to the next, quickly forgetting his obsession with the purple shy-guy in the excitement of going to a birthday party.

He knocked on the egg-shaped door and waited expectantly. Moment's passed, and he heard the clopping of Yoshis running. To Luigi's surprise, the door was opened by twenty-six sugar-hyped baby Yoshis!

"Yoshi! Yoshi! Yoshi!" They all chorused, surrounding Luigi and push/pulling him into the house.

"Hey everybody! Woah, easy on the overalls!" Luigi exclaimed as they continued pushing/pulling him down the hall. One of the baby Yoshis climbed onto Luigi's head and tossed his hat off into the crowd, "Hey! Be careful with that!"

Finally, they reached the game room/living room/ party room. Streamers hung everywhere, and miniature Yoshi eggs were all over the place; obviously, the baby Yoshis had done the decorating.

There were several other non-Yoshi guests in the room; Birdo was trying to make a pyramid of eggs next to the karaoke machine, Diddy Kong hung from a particularly thick swath of streamers, and several koopa troopas were playing pin-the-tail on Baby Bowser.

"Owch! Stop it! Stop it!" the unfortunate koopa-kid shouted, running for his life from the Koopa troopa with the pin.

"Wow! This is great!" Luigi said, happily accepting a six-scoop ice cream cone from one of the baby Yoshis, "But where's Yoshi?"

All the baby Yoshis, understanding his question, chorused, "Yo-yoshi, YOSHI!" and raced off through the door to the kitchen. Seconds later, they returned pushing/pulling Yoshi with them.

"Yoshi! Yoshi! Yoshi!" Yoshi protested, probably meaning something to the extent of, "Hey, you're tickling me!" or, "What a great ride!" but, judging from the smell of burning pastry emanating from the kitchen, he most likely meant, "Stop! I have to get the cake out of the oven before it burns!"

"Hi, Yoshi!" Luigi waved as Yoshi dashed back into the kitchen to rescue the cake.

"YOSHI!" Yoshi called a greeting back to Luigi.

"Maybe I should go and help." Luigi ate one of the scoops of ice cream left on his cone in one gulp before strolling into the kitchen. However, Yoshi had managed just fine by himself, and had already stacked the four enormous cake layers on top of each other. The table was hardly big enough to hold the gigantic baked confection; the top layer was only inches from the ceiling.

"Yoshi-shi yoshi yoshi!" Yoshi handed Luigi a Super Soaker.

"Wha…?" Luigi looked at the water gun. It felt like it held something other than water… Yoshi passed several more of the water guns to the baby Yoshis and guests.

"Yoshi!" he pointed at the cake with the Super Soaker and fired. Instead of water, frosting shot out onto the cake! All the others with frosting-filled water guns followed suit, covering the cake with icing in a matter of seconds. Each gun fired a different color, from green, to neon pink. Once the cake was completely coated with a myriad of shockingly bright colors; the baby Yoshis started firing frosting into each other's mouths.

Luigi emptied his water gun into the mouth of a red Yoshi. The little dino was like a bottomless pit; it sucked down all the sugar-infused icing left in Luigi's gun and went off to find more.

Three candles were stuck into the cake and lit, and the lights were turned out so everyone could sing 'Happy Birthday'. Strangely, everyone sang in Yoshi language; even Luigi. It actually wasn't too hard; after all, it was just the same words over and over again.

_Yoshi yoshi, yoshi._

_Yoshi yoshi YOshi._

_Yoshi YOSHI yo-yoshi…_

_Yoshi yo-shi, YO-SHI!_

Instead of blowing out the candles, Yoshi swallowed them. Whole. He didn't seem to be affected by the small flame and molten wax, however, and everyone cheered, wishing him many happy dinners, and all those other things Yoshis love.

The lights flicked on, and Baby Bowser jumped onto the counter, brandishing an oversized fork and knife, "LET'S EAT!" he roared in his tiny, Bowser voice just before diving headlong into the cake.

A feeding frenzy soon ensued; and the entire cake vanished in a record seven minutes and thirty-two seconds.

Luigi dusted cake crumbs out of his mustache and licked off his fork, "That was the best cake ever!" He glanced at Baby Bowser, who would probably have drowned in frosting if the others hadn't eaten him out so quickly. The koopa had just polished off his sixth slice, and was groaning slightly, lying stretched out on the ground to digest.

"Yoshi, yoshi!" Yoshi announced. It was time for presents!

Suddenly, Luigi felt his stomach turn over; and it wasn't because he had eaten four slices of cake right after six scoops of ice cream. He had forgotten to get Yoshi a present! What could he do? He sat, nervously considering his options as the other guests presented Yoshi with their gifts.

Diddy Kong had brought Yoshi a big bunch of bananas, Birdo gave him a special, multi-colored rock, and the Baby Yoshis, in a joint effort, had drawn a big picture of Yoshi surrounded by mounds and mounds of food.

Baby Bowser, when it was his turn, stood up and announced, "In honor of your whatever-it-is year as a tiny-brained dinosaur, I wrote you this song."

He then picked up the microphone attached to the karaoke machine and began rapping:

_Yoshi eats a lot of food,_

_'Cause he's a big green dino-dude._

_Uh- uh, yeah- yeah- yeah- yeah._

_He tried to eat my dad one day,_

_And he got punched and flew away!_

_Uh- uh, yeah baby! Peace out!_

No one applauded.

Baby Bowser frowned, "What?" he growled before stalking off to make himself sick eating ice cream.

An idea popped into Luigi's head; he could sing Yoshi a birthday song! Of course, he would have to make it up on the spot, but whatever he did would easily top Baby Bowser's offensive rapping.

He stood up and cleared his throat, "Um, I have a song too. I made it special for you, pal."

Yoshi's eyes brightened, and he leaned forward expectantly.

Luigi picked up the microphone and turned the volume up. He swallowed nervously, glancing out the big picture window as if to find some inspiration for his song. During his brief glance, he saw, walking down the street, big plate of spaghetti balanced atop a yellow, polka-dot party hat, none other than-

"_**THE PURPLE SHY-GUY!**_" Luigi screeched into the microphone and pointed out the window. The plate glass window shattered into a zillion pieces because of the ear piercing sound, and there was an extreme power surge that caused all the lights to malfunction within a mile of Yoshi's house. A horrible crack, followed by the earthquake-like shaking of the house suggested that the very foundation of Yoshi's home had disintegrated because of the hyper-sonic-level noise; and the walls began to collapse.

"Yoshi! Yoshi! Yoshi!" The Baby Yoshis all ran panicked in every direction, followed closely by Diddy Kong, Birdo, and the koopa troopas.

Baby Bowser leaped onto the couch screaming, "Yeah, baby! Bring down the house!"

The entire building came down about their ears in a final, wood-splintering crash.

Luigi coughed as the dust settled. When the air finally cleared, the purple shy-guy was nowhere to be seen.

"Um, oops." Luigi looked around at the mass of rubble that used to be a house. He walked over to Yoshi and put a hand on his shoulder, "Er, I'm really, _really_ sorry about that, Yoshi…"

The green dino looked up at him with big, sad eyes. After a moment, his expression changed, and he looked at Luigi with big, angry eyes. You could almost see the flames burning behind them.

"Yoshi!" he said and turned his back on Luigi.

"Yoshi… please don't be like that…" Luigi pleaded. He got down on his knees, despite the splintery rubble, "Can you ever forgive me?"

Yoshi turned back around. He looked angrily at Luigi for a minute, then smiled, "Yoshi, yo-yoshi shi-yo." Meaning something like, "Don't worry, I hardly use the house, except for guests. I was thinking about redecorating anyway." He added, "Yoshi- yoshi yoshi." and grinned.

Before Luigi had time to interpret what he said, Yoshi stuck out his tongue and swallowed Luigi whole!

_Gulp! - Pop!_

Out came a large egg containing Luigi.

"Yoshi-shi yoshi." ("Now we're even.") he said, and skipped off to build a lean-to near some of his fruit trees.

It took Luigi a good twenty minutes to break out of the egg. He got free just in time to see Baby Bowser emerge from a pile of roof shingles.

"Ugh…" the young koopa-kid shook himself, "That was the best party ever! I'm gonna remember this for the rest of my life! I can't wait to tell Dad! He'll be so jealous!"

Baby Bowser ran down the street, and off into the distance.

"Well, I guess I'd better be getting home." The green clad plumber straightened his overalls, waved at Yoshi, (who had finished his lean-to and was snacking on bananas), and jogged down the street towards his house.


	10. Another Princess Chapter

_Author's note:_

_Wow, a lot of people are curious about that purple shy-guy!_

_Don't worry; all will be revealed... eventually... _

* * *

Later, on the same day as Yoshi's party… 

"You know, Peach, I've always wondered how your curtains stay so nice and rip-free." Daisy added another stitch to the large piece of cloth with her tiny needle, "Do you really sit down like this after every Mario Party and stitch them back up?"

"Yes. Donkey Kong can never remember that curtains are for decoration, and not climbing." Peach replied, stitching the curtain up faster than a sewing machine, "Anyway, it's not like I have anything better to do; and all the toads can't sew. Or at least they can't without somebody pricking themselves and getting blood and tears all over the curtains."

"It's really amazing how much free time we have." Daisy observed, "Why, our kingdom's practically run themselves!"

"I find it a little strange," Peach started to patch up the hem, "but I suppose it's a good thing; with me being kidnapped so often. I think my father's forgotten how to run the kingdom…"

"Well at least you know your father! I haven't seen mine since…" Daisy paused, "I don't even remember when. I don't even remember him! In fact, I hardly even remember where I live! I guess it's a good thing I'm staying with you."

"Yes, I suppose it is a good thing." Peach rolled her eyes in a very un-princess-like manner. In mid roll, she happened to glance out the window that usually displayed the curtains they were mending, "Oh, look!" she dropped her needle into the folds of the curtain and stood at the window, "It's that purple shy-guy again!"

Daisy was instantly beside her, "And he still has that incredibly-fashionable yellow, polka-dot party hat with the plate of spaghetti on top! Let's go and ask where he got it!"

"Wait!" Peach caught the sleeve of Daisy's dress, "Remember what happened last time?"

"Um…"

"He ran screaming into the hills!" Peach reminded her.

"Oh, right…"

"This time, so as not to scare him with our royal presence," Peach went on airily, "we shall send Toadsmill after him instead. We can watch from the window and see how it goes." She rang her small, silver bell and Toadsmill came running.

"Yes, Your Highness?" he asked.

"Toadsmill," Peach motioned out the window at the purple shy-guy, "I would like for you to go out there and ask that purple shy-guy where he got his hat, the one with the spaghetti on top. Quickly, before he's gone!"

"Yes, Your Highness!" Toadsmill saluted, and proceeded to throw himself out the window.

"Stop!" Peach caught him by his vest just before he collided with the glass, "Use the door!"

"Oh, uh, yes, Your Highness." The over-enthusiastic toad ran out of the room.

Moments later, the two princesses saw him racing down the road after the purple shy-guy.

"My, Toadsmill is fast!" Daisy exclaimed, "He ought to enter in the next Mushroom Kingdom Games!"

Peach watched as Toadsmill rapidly caught up with the purple shy-guy, "He's almost there. Oh, drat. They've gone behind that oddly-placed hedge."

"Whose idea was it to put a hedge right next to the road like that?" Daisy squinted, as if to see through the bush obstructing her view.

"This is Mushroom Kingdom; we have living, breathing clouds, maniacal turtles trying to take over the throne, and strange lines of bricks hanging in the air. How should I know why the hedge is there?" Peach snapped.

"Oh, look! He's coming back!" Daisy pointed, "Let's go out and meet him halfway!"

Curtains forgotten, the two of them ran out to meet the exhausted Toadsmill.

"Well?" Peach asked, "What did he say?"

Toadsmill looked hot, sweaty, and, over-all, miserable, "He didn't say."

"Why not?" Daisy asked.

"I don't know!" the toad wiped a hand across his forehead, "He took one look at me, screeched in fright, and sped off, plate of spaghetti and all, over a distant hill, leaving a cloud of dust behind him."

"Oh, mega koopas!" Daisy cried, "He ran away again!"

"Hm… it seems it wasn't our royal presence that scared him after all." Peach mused, "We'll have to try something else next time we see him."

"Like what?" Daisy asked.

"Hm…" Peach considered. She turned to Toadsmill, "Do we still have that go-kart left over from Mario Kart: Double Dash?"

"Um, yes, Your Majesty," Toadsmill, who had pretty much recovered from his run, cocked his head to the side, "Why?"

"Don't you worry about that," Peach patted his mushroom cap, "just have it ready to drive by tomorrow evening. Come, Daisy, we've got to finish mending those curtains; we can use them too."


	11. Bright Colors

The next day… er, well, morning.

Mario was snoring peacefully in bed, (if you can call snoring like a buzz saw peaceful), when a strange figure with a camouflage helmet and charcoal-blackened face peeked up over the side of the bed.

"Mario…"the figurecalled, "Mario, wake up…"

"Mmmnn… huhn?" Mario groaned and rolled over sleepily to see who was talking to him, "WAAH!" He yelped, and leaped a full four-and-a-half feet into the air before dropping back into bed. After his wits returned, he noticed that the charcoal-blackened face had a mustache exactly like… "Luigi?" he received a nod from his camo-clad brother, "What is it? And why are you dressed like that?"

"Shh…" Luigi held a finger to his lips, "We're going on a top-secret-spying mission today. If we can blend in with the surroundings, via camouflage, we should be able to follow the purple shy-guy all the way to wherever he's going! But we need to start practicing now."

"Weege," Mario sighed, "camouflage colors won't blend in Mushroom Kindom; for crying out loud, it's all _bright_ colors! The only places with dark colors are places like the Haunted Woods, or caves, or Bowser's castle!"

"Oh." Luigi paused to digest this information. "I'll be right back…"

"Whatever." Mario rolled back over, hoping to get a few more minutes of sleep.

-------------

Twenty seconds later…

"Mario…"

"Luigi! Just leave me- wha?" Mario started up angrily and was shocked momentarily by his younger brother's extraordinarily vibrant color, "You painted yourself _orange_!"

"Yup." Luigi nodded happily, "Look's pretty good, doesn't it?"

Mario looked him up and down, "… you look like a living glob of orange sherbet ice cream…"

Luigi sniffed, "Don't make fun of me. With this extremely bright color, I'll blend right into the backgrounds of Mushroom Kingdom!" he crossed his arms over his neon orange overalls, "Besides, you're orange too."

"I'm wha?" Mario looked down at himself, "ACK! You painted me too! But HOW!"

Luigi grinned knowingly, "You know, bro, you're a reeeeeeeally sound sleeper…" he strung his binoculars, (also painted orange), around his neck, "You'd better hurry and get up; we've got to find a good place to hide before the purple shy-guy comes!"


	12. POKE!

Several hours later…

"Hum de dum," Luigi entertained himself by applying random notes to these sounds. "Hum _de_ dum, de dum _hum_, hum hum de dum dum de dum."

"Luigi, you've been doing that for the past _four hours_... Stop. Now." Mario narrowed his eyes threateningly, his orange hands forming an orange fireball.

"Gee, the weather's nice out today!" Luigi burst out. "And boy, was it lucky for us those construction guys left these bright, orange cones out here or what? Why, we're practically invisible next to these! It's perfect camouflage!" he patted one of the vibrantly colored, plastic cones.

Mario sighed, rolling his eyes, "Oh yeah, _nobody's_ going to notice a couple of orange colored guys pretending to be traffic cones."

"I knew you'd agree!" Luigi's eyes shone with happiness. He glanced over his shoulder for no reason in particular, and saw… "GASP!" he ducked behind a traffic cone, pulling Mario with him, "It's the purple shy-guy!"

And so it was. Still wearing his yellow, polka-dotted party hat with its plate of piping-hot spaghetti and meatballs balanced on top, the shy-guy came walking down the street.

Mario and Luigi held perfectly still as the purple shy-guy passed by their hiding place. He was so close, they could have reached out an grabbed one of the mondo-sized meatballs from the plate balanced on his hat. The spaghetti smelled incredibly delicious.

_He's so close, but we still don't know what he's doing! Ack! The suspense! It's tearing apart my very being! I can feel it… tearing…_ Luigi was in the midst of going insane, well, more insane, as the purple shy-guy walked by, when he suddenly noticed that Mario was about to do the worst possible thing that could ever be done when working undercover as a traffic cone. Mario was about to _sneeze_.

"Ah…" Mario closed his eyes and inhaled.

"NO!" Luigi screamed, clapping both hands over Mario's mouth and nose.

The purple shy-guy stopped.

_Oh no! I just blew our cover!_ Luigi thought, holding as still as possible, hands still over Mario's mouth and nose.

The purple shy-guy slo-o-owly turned to face them. He looked directly at Luigi.

Luigi looked directly at the purple shy-guy.

The purple shy-guy cocked his head to the side, steadying the plate of spaghetti with one hand. "?" he squeaked questioningly and walked right up to Luigi, not quite sure what he was looking at.

Luigi didn't move. He didn't think. He didn't _breathe_.

The purple shy-guy stared at him for an immeasurable length of time (half a minute). Then, suddenly, and without warning, he took one of his little, purple hands, and gave Luigi a good hard _poke_, right in the middle of his big, tomato-shaped nose. The poke lasted several seconds, in which, to Luigi, it felt like his nose had been stuffed back into his head. Then, satisfied, the purple shy-guy turned and continued on his merry little way.

As soon as he was a good distance away, Mario threw Luigi's hands off his face, gasping for air, "What are you trying to do! Suffocate me!"

"Owie…" Luigi was too busy rubbing his slightly red-orange colored nose to hear.

Mario's anger was washed instantly away by his brother's pain. "… you okay, bro?"

"Yeah…" Luigi sniffed, "It didn't hurt, I just… I just… I just… he _POKED _me!"

Mario fished a Band-aid out of his overall pocket, "Here you go. This ought to fix things up."

Luigi carefully applied the bandage to his nose, and was cheered instantly, "Thanks, Mario! You're the best brother ever!"

"That's me." Mario put an arm around his admiring sibling, "Now, let's go home and get something to eat! All this detective-ing has made me pretty hungry."

Luigi turned back to look for the purple shy-guy, "Wait, we might still be able to catch him!"

"He's long gone by now, weege." Mario shook his head.

Luigi caught a glimpse of the purple shy-guy as he disappeared around the corner, "No he's not! We can still catch up! Come on! We've got to go after him!"

He grabbed Mario's sleeve and rocketed after the purple shy-guy.


	13. Another POKE!

Luigi, with Mario in tow, careened around the corner after the purple shy-guy. Dodging skillfully from mailbox, to trash can, to large, strangely placed brick wall; they followed the shy-guy through town.

The purple shy-guy walked past Dr. Mario's clinic, took a right at Gary Goomba's Grocery Store, bobbed right on by Koopa Dry Kleaning, and didn't even look at the Cheep-Cheeps for Cheap pet store. The purple shy-guy took the Mario brothers on a twisting, turning path all over town.

The shy-guy paused near Yoshi's place to admire a shiny, silver hubcap someone lost on the side of the road.

Luigi and Mario ducked into a thick, viney bush to wait for the shy-guy to start moving again.

"Didn't there used to be a house here?" Mario frowned, looking at where Yoshi's house used to be.

"No." Luigi replied instantly.

"Are you sure…?"

Luigi tugged nervously at the collar of his shirt, "Yes." He turned his guilty face away from his brother's probing gaze, "Look!" he hissed with an exaggerated gesture meant to distract Mario from the delicate subject of Yoshi's house, or lack thereof, "The purple-shy guy is moving again!" He jumped out of the bush, and… was stuck in the bush. Looking down at himself, Luigi discovered that he had become hopelessly entangled in the vines, "No!" He moaned. The purple shy-guy was going to escape again!

Mario was equally, if not more, entangled in the bush's vines. They struggled together, but the vines held tightly.

-------

Yoshi, who was lounging in his lean-to, eating fruit and drinking lemonade, was puzzled by the sight of the shaking bush. He hopped to his feet to go investigate.

"Yoshi?" he inquired, poking the bush with a stick. There seemed to be something… orange… stuck in it.

"Ow! Stop poking!" Mario said.

"Watch the nose!" Luigi complained.

"Yoshi yo?" Yoshi was very confused. "Yoshi-shi yoshi yo-yoshi yo shiii?" (What the heck are you two doing in that bush, and why are you painted orange?)

"We're following the purple shy-guy." Luigi sniffed, "but he's getting away even as we speak."

"Shi?"

"Because we _have_ to know what he's doing with his yellow, polka-dot party hat and his plate of spaghetti!" Luigi wailed. Glancing at Mario, he added, "Well, at least I have to know."

"Yoshi?" (is that all?), Yoshi laughed, "Yo-yo-yoshi yoshi-shi, yo-shi, yoshi!" (I'll go and find out what he's doing for you.)

"No! He'll run away!" Luigi warned.

Yoshi had already started after the shy-guy, "Yoshi!" (don't worry, shy-guys love me!)

Yoshi jogged bouncily up the purple shy-guy. "Yoshi-yo." (Hello)

The purple shy-guy didn't respond, but kept walking as though Yoshi wasn't even there.

Yoshi tried again, "Yoshi-yo!"

Still, the purple shy-guy didn't answer, or even react.

A bit miffed, Yoshi ran up and stood directly in front of the shy-guy, "Yoshi-yo!"

The purple shy-guy walked around him, completely undisturbed.

Now Yoshi was mad. "Yo-yoshi YOSHI!" He shot out his tongue and swallowed the purple shy-guy, spaghetti and all!

_POP!_

Out popped the purple shy-guy, spaghetti and all.

He wasn't even inside an egg!

Yoshi stood for a few moments, a very strange look on his face. Then, seeing the purple shy-guy walking on down the street, decided to try getting his attention in the only way he could think of at the time: Yoshi snuck up behind the purple shy-guy… and took his plate of spaghetti.

For a few seconds, it seemed as though the shy-guy wouldn't even notice. Then he stopped, his little, purple hands feeling the air where the plate of pasta should have been. Puzzled, he looked up, down, left, and right. A thought seemed to occur to him, and he turned slo-o-owly around to face Yoshi, who was holding the plate of spaghetti. _His_ plate of spaghetti.

The purple shy-guy looked at Yoshi.

Yoshi looked at the purple shy-guy.

The purple shy-guy's eyes narrowed…

Yoshi's eyes narrowed…

Cheesy western music played in the background; intensifying the somewhat strangemood of the somewhatstrange scene.

A tumbleweed rolled across the street.

Momentarily distracted by the rolling weed, Yoshi didn't notice the purple shy-guy suddenly dash forward.

It leaped into the air, holding its purple hand high. With terrifying speed, the purple shy-guy brought down his hand just in time for a fearsome **_poke_**… right on Yoshi's oversized nose.

They remained there for a moment; frozen, as though a camera had captured forever the moment of the attack.

Then, at last, Yoshi fell backwards, dropping the plate of spaghetti. He crashed onto the ground; stunned. The plate of spaghetti landed perfectly, not losinga single meatball, on the road.

**_GAME SET!_** A strangely familiar announcer-type voice yelled out of nowhere. A random crowd cheered as the purple shy-guy looked around, confused, but not overly disturbed, by all the noise.

The purple shy-guy picked up his plate of spaghetti, and continued down the street; leaving Yoshi on the ground behind him.

By this time, Mario had remembered his fireball shooting skills, and freed himself and Luigi from the bush's viney grasp.

They were still following the shy-guy when he left the town and took a turn towards Princess Peach's castle.

This chase was far from over. Oh, far from over indeed…


	14. The Death of a Go Kart

_Author's note: Merry Christmas!_

* * *

"Your highnesses! The purple shy-guy is coming!" Toadsmill squeaked in a high-pitched whisper. 

"Wonderful! Is everything ready, Daisy?" Peach asked, fastening the gold buckle of her deluxe go-kart helmet.

"Um, let's see… super-grip racing tires… tank full of hyper jet-fuel… steering wheel firmly attached to the car…" Daisy checked off the items on a small, yellow pad of paper, "I think we have everything!"

"Perfect. We'll wait until the purple shy-guy-"

"And his incredibly-fashionable yellow, polka-dot party hat with the plate of spaghetti on top!" Daisy tapped her own flowery blue go-kart helmet with her pencil.

"-gets to the other side of that oddly-placed hedge before we start." Peach nodded, "Toadsmill, stand by for ignition."

"Yes, Your highness!" he piped up energetically.

The two princesses sat in the go-kart; Peach in the pink, cushiony driver's seat, Daisy standing on the back.

Waiting.

Waiting.

Waiting.

"He's almost…" Daisy squinted to see in the early twilight. Suddenly, her eyes widened, "There he is! Go!"

"Yes, Your highness!" Toadsmill shouted, and yanked the starting cord as hard as his tiny muscles allowed.

The go-kart's engine revved.

"Hold onto your high-heels, Daisy!" Peach yelled over the engine and put the pedal to the metal.

The go-kart took off at an amazing speed, racing down the road after the purple shy-guy.

"We'll catch up with him in no time at this rate!" Peach called back to Daisy.

"What's that?"

"I said," she repeated louder, "WE'LL CATCH UP WITH HIM IN NO TIME AT-"

"No," Daisy shouted, her brown hair whipping about her face, "What's THAT?"

Princess Peach looked ahead and saw two orange-colored shapes standing in the middle of the road near the oddly-placed hedge, "They look kind of like… Mario and Luigi?" She wasn't sure; the wind in her face making her eyes water.

"Don't worry, Peach," Daisy shouted, "I'm sure they'll move!"

------------

Mario and Luigi stood in the middle of the road, panting.

"That little guy sure is fast…" Luigi gasped, fanning himself with the shiny hubcap the shy-guy had been looking at earlier, "and now that we're out of town, our extremely-bright orange coloring doesn't blend in with anything!"

Mario wiped the sweat off his forehead and grumbled, "Why did I ever let him talk me into coming along on such a crazy trip?" he looked at Luigi, who was still using the hubcap to fan himself, "And why did you bring that thing along?"

"It's shiny and pretty." Luigi stroked it lovingly.

Mario slapped his hand across his eyes, "Why me?"

"Say, bro." Luigi said, tucking the hubcap back into his overalls. He cocked his head, "Do you hear that weird motor-ish sound?"

Mario waved his orange cap at him, "It's probably just Paratroopa-Airline's evening plane. It passes near here, doesn't it?"

"Oh, yeah… maybe…" Luigi pulled out his binoculars to scan the skies while his brother caught his breath.

----------

"I don't think they're going to move!" Daisy shouted.

"Oh, don't worry. Mario has an unbelievably accurate sense of danger!" Peach reassured her friend, "He'll get out of the way in time."

---------

"Hey, is it just me, or is that motor-ish sound getting louder?" Luigi had a puzzled look on his face as he lowered his binoculars.

"You must be hearing things." Mario wiggled a finger in his ear.

--------

"Peach, I really think they're not going to move!" Daisy cried.

"No, no, no. They'll move." Peach said, biting her lip worriedly, "Any second now. They'll jump out of the way." Her delicate fingers clutched the go-kart's steering wheel, "Any second. Any- GREAT KOOPAS! THEY'RE NOT MOVING!"

"STEER, PEACH, STEEEEEEEER!" Daisy shrieked as Princess Peach swerved off the road to avoid the two, orange-colored heroes.

WHOOOSH!

They crashed through the oddly-placed hedge, and ran into a large tree just on the other side.

-------

"What in Mushroom Kingdom was THAT?" Mario whirled about just in time to see one of the go-kart's tires roll out of the hedge and onto the road.

They rushed through the hedge to see what had happened.

The go-kart had been mangled beyond recognition by the stout trunk of the tree it had collided with. Two wheels were sticking up in the air, the exhaust pipe poked out of the backseat, and the engine appeared to be, well, in several places.

"It's dead..." Mario and Luigi sadly removed their caps in honor of the totalled vehicle.

"Don't just stand there!" Princess Peach shouted from inside the mangled frame of the go-kart, "Get me out of here!"

"Don't forget about me!"

Mario and Luigi looked up, open-mouthed from Peach's predicament, at Daisy, who was hanging upside-down by her long, yellow dress.

-------------

Several minutes later…

"Just jump, Daisy! I'll catch you!" Luigi called confidently.

"Well… okay…" she said doubtfully, "GERONIMO!"

"Waaah!- OOF!"

"Say, that wasn't as bad as I thought it would be!" Daisy stood and dusted off her dress, "Thanks Luigi!"

"You're… welcome…" said crushed Luigi.

"What were you two doing in the middle of the road?" Daisy asked.

"We were trying to catch up with the purple shy-guy." Mario grumbled, trying to free Princess Peach from the remains of the go-kart, "Luigi's obsessed with finding out what he's up to."

"Am not!" Luigi cried, hopping up from the ground, "I just have to know!"

"Wow, what a coincidence!" Daisy clapped her hands together, "We're trying to find out where he got his incredibly-fashionable yellow, polka-dot party hat with the plate of spaghetti on top!"

"Really?" Luigi straightened his cap, "Maybe we can work together!"

"What a great idea!" Daisy clapped her hands again, "but it looks like we won't be able to use the go-kart anymore…"

"You guys should be more careful!" Mario advised as he finally disentangled Peach from the go-kart's wreckage.

"More- you- gah!- CAREFUL!" With a final, angry 'hmph!', Peach turned on her heel and stalked away, leaving a very confused Mario behind her.

"Well, in any case, we'll have to wait until tomorrow to get started." Luigi pointed out mournfully, "The purple shy-guy is long gone by now."

"Don't worry, Luigi," Daisy laid a hand on his shoulder, "We'll get rested tonight, and tomorrow, we'll solve this mystery once and for all!"

* * *

_Yep, this fanfic is getting close to an end. The next chapter should be a good, long, reveal-the-answers-to-all-your-questions chapter!_ _Stay tuned!_

_Don't forget to hit the review button!_

VVVVVVV


	15. Second to last chapter!

_Author's note: Aah... 'tis good to be back!_

_After many, many computer troubles, I've finally gotten around to writing this chapter!_

_... which is not the last chapter..._

_It's close, though. Very close._

_Thanks for all the reviews and (the one) e-mail, guys! I appreciate it!_

_And awaaaaaay we go!_

* * *

The whole group, (consisting of Luigi, Mario, Princesses Peach and Daisy, Toadsmill, Yoshi, and a random, expendable Koopa Troopa named Joe), returned to the castle to hold a council of war to plan their final attack. 

Luigi smacked his hand down onto the desk, "We need to plan our final attack; no more losing the purple shy-guy! We'll stick to him like burnt cheese to a frying pan!"

"Ew… burnt cheese…" Peach mumbled disapprovingly.

"Daisy," Luigi snapped his head to face the yellow-clad princess, "read the notes!"

Flipping through a few pages in her yellow notebook, Daisy began, "Ahem. Marshmallows, two bags of flour, a watermelon- wait… this is my grocery list…" She murmured sheepishly, and flipped through a few more pages. "Um…" she flipped through a few more pages. Suddenly, she stopped, "I didn't take any notes for you, Luigi!"

"Oh. Right." Luigi adjusted his cap. "That's because all we need to know is written down right here!"

He strode across the room to where a gigantic blackboard stood. He hit it with his fist, and it flipped over to show some doodles, and a few words.

The green-clad plumber produced a conductor's baton out of his overalls, and tapped it against the blackboard as he read off the doodles and the words,

"Target The Purple Shy-guy.

Mission find out what he's doing with that plate of spaghetti."

Peach broke in, "And where he got that incredibly fashionable hat!"

Luigi nodded, "And find out where he got that incredibly fashionable hat. Moving on, I will provide, for those who aren't familiar with everyone already, a brief description of all the members of our group, including their strengths and weaknesses."

"We already know everyone's strengths and weaknesses, Weege." Mario rolled his eyes.

"Joe doesn't." Luigi indicated the befuddled Koopa Troopa sitting in the seat next to Yoshi. "And so here it is, presented in no particular order."

* * *

**Luigi:** _Awesome, god-like leader._

-Strengths: His Sherlock-Holmes-esqe detectiving abilities of wonder.

-Weaknesses: Nothing.

**Mario:** _Brother of the awesome, god-like leader._

-Strengths: Can break bricks with his head.

-Weaknesses: Cheap mustache gel.

**Peach:** _Princess of Mushroom Kingdom._

-Strengths: Her regal-ness, and sewing.

-Weaknesses: Bowser.

**Daisy:** _Princess of… some… kingdom… somewhere._

-Strengths: Her ability to run quickly in high-heels.

-Weaknesses: Insects.

**Yoshi:** _Dinosaur and tongue-stretcher extraordinaire._

-Strengths: Able to eat more than a locomotive.

-Weaknesses: Rotten fruit.

**Toadsmill:** _Our little ... attendant... dude_.

-Strengths: Ability to say 'Yes, your Highness' in any situation.

-Weaknesses: Gullibility.

**Joe:** _The very random and expendable koopa troopa we picked up outside Dry Dry Dry Cleaners._

-Strengths: Can walk in a straight line forever without getting tired, or caring where he's going.

-Weaknesses: Jumping plumbers.

* * *

"Any objections/questions?" Luigi surveyed the group. 

"Who made you god-like leader of our group?" Peach raised an eyebrow.

"I'm not weak to cheap mustache gel." Mario huffed, "And I break bricks with my _fists_, not my head!"

"Where am I princess of?" Daisy looked confused.

"Yoshi-yo-yoshi!" (That rotten fruit thing only happened once!)

"I'm not gullible!" Toadsmill shouted.

Daisy looked at him, "Toadsmill, the earth is square."

"Really!" the toad's mouth hung open, "I always thought it was spherical! By Bowser… square… what will they think of next?"

"I have a question!" Joe the Koopa Troopa raised his hand, "Why does my description say I'm 'expendable?"

"Uh, all your questions will be filed away and never looked at- I mean… I'll answer them when I get the time." Luigi flipped the blackboard again, "Now, let's go after that purple shy-guy!"

* * *

**_Fifteen-and-a-half minutes later..._**

"There he is…" Luigi peered through the leaves of the large bush he was concealed by at the purple shy-guy, who was strolling along the path as usual, with his big plate of spaghetti balanced precariously on top of his yellow, polka-dot party hat.

The green-clad plumber pressed a button on his large walkie-talkie, and spoke in hushed tones into the mic, "This is Greensherlock reporting; the purple shy-guy is on the path, I repeat, on the path. Not next to the path, not diagonal to the path, not even _under_ the path; but **_ON_** the path."

-

A hundred yards down the road, on the other side of the street, was a different bush, in which Peach and Daisy were concealed.

They both pressed the talk button on their walkie-talkie simultaneously, "This is Pinkpuff, - and yellowbird- reporting. We have a visual of the target."

"That's great!" Luigi's voice crackled over the walkie-talkie in answer, "But can you see him?"

Peach and Daisy slapped their hands to their foreheads, "Yes." Peach added in an exasperated voice, "That's what a visual means, Luigi."

-

"… I knew that." Luigi grumbled into the receiver as he watched the purple shy-guy progressing down the street.

"XXxxxxzzz you guys stop fooling xxxXXXXXZZ?" Mario said from his and Toadsmill's hiding place; a large tree a quarter of a mile down the road.

"Sorry bro, I didn't catch that." Luigi stroked his moustache, "After all, these walkie-talkies only have a three hundred yard range. Oops, the purple shy-guy's almost around the corner. Cover me!" He called into his walkie-talkie.

Then, whipping out the hubcap that, (if you recall), he found earlier near the side of the road to use as a shield, Luigi dove into a roll, aiming for the other side of the road.

He didn't quite roll all the way; in fact, he didn't quite roll at all. Instead, he landed with an 'Oomph' in the middle of the street.

Picking himself up quickly, he scurried across as fast as he could and threw himself behind a stray mailbox.

Luigi dusted off his cap, "That wasn't so bad."

The purple shy-guy continued down the street, completely oblivious.

"Hey you guys," Came Joe's voice over the walkie-talkie, "Yoshi wants to know if it's time for part B of the plan."

"Ah, why not." Luigi pulled his hat down firmly and replaced the hubcap in his overalls. "Everyone, initiate part B! Follow that shy-guy!"

Immediately, everyone involved in this plot dropped to the ground, (it was quite a long drop for Mario and Toadsmill), and began to creep along the ground, commando style, whilst the theme for Mission Impossible played in the background.

"Dun dun, duun duun duun, dun dun, dun-dun-dun-dun, dun dun, duun duun duun, dun dun, dun-dun-dun-dun…"

"Luigi," Everyone hissed into their walkie-talkies, "It's background music! Stop singing along!"

"Well excuuuuse me!"

* * *

_Will the gang finally find out what the purple shy-guy is doing with his plate of spaghetti? (and where he got that extremely fashionable hat?) _

_Will Mario ever be free of Luigi's antics?_

_Will Joe's expendibility cost him dearly in the end?_

_Will Daisy ever remember what kingdom she's from?_

_Find out next time, in the action-packed conclusion of **The Mysterious Shy-Guy**!_

_... and don't forget to review!_


	16. Exciting Conclusion!

_Author's note: It figures. It totally figures that Fanfictionis down the day I finish writing this story...but that's okay! Because I'm posting it now!_

_So, this is it. The end of the story. I think I tied up all the loose ends into nice, little, shy-guy-shaped bows. Anyways, thanks, everyone who reviewed! It was looking in my inbox and seeing all these reviews, and all these people wondering about the purple shy-guy._

_Now, all questions will be answered. Most, anyway._

_And, in case anyone's wondering, I'm posting this and the epilogue at the same time. They're both kind of the same chapter... I just liked how it looked all separated out._

_And awaaaay we go!..._

* * *

They followed the purple shy-guy, with his big, steaming plate of spaghetti and meatballs balanced precariously on top of his yellow, polka-dotted party hat, all over the mushroom kingdom that day. 

They leapt over goombas in the ground-level er… levels, trudged through the dank depths of the subterranean sewer levels, hopped from cloud-to-cloud in the airborne levels; even did the backstroke in the underwater levels. All the while wondering: "How in all of Mushroom Kingdom is that plate of spaghetti staying on his head!"

"The sun's starting to set," Peach observed, attempting to wring the water out of her dress, "He _can't_ be going much farther!"

At that moment, they topped a small rise in the field, and found themselves standing before the horror that was… a cheep-cheep bridge.

It hung over the water at a seemingly safe distance, but, as all residents of the Mushroom Kingdom know, this was not so. For the moment someone stepped on that bridge, be it the largest Hammerbro, or the smallest goomba, the cheep-cheeps would come flying out of the river, fangs bared (well, they were fish, so they didn't really have fangs… but you get the idea) to attack.

At the edge of this peril-ridden bridge, the purple shy-guy paused. He visibly adjusted the spaghetti on top of his yellow, polka-dotted party hat, took a deep breath, and stepped onto the bridge.

Immediately, a horde of vicious cheep-cheeps leapt out of the water below, flinging themselves at the purple shy-guy.

Time seemed to stand still, the shy-guy on the bridge, the cheep-cheeps bearing down on him.

"I can't watch…" Daisy gasped, hiding her face in the folds of her dress.

The purple shy-guy narrowed its eyes, and time resumed its natural pace. Dust flew from ground as the purple shy-guy raced at an incredible pace across the bridge, leaving the dumbfounded cheep-cheeps floundering on the bridge in his wake.

Upon reaching the other side of the bridge, he stopped adjusted his plate of spaghetti, and, satisfied, continued to walk.

Toadsmill cheered, "He made it!"

"That was cool! But… er… how are _we_ going to do that?" Joe, the expendable koopa troopa, asked.

This question was followed by an uneasy silence.

… which was broken by Luigi, "Don't give up, everyone! I _know_ we can make it! We've come this far, what's one measly, little cheep-cheep bridge?"

This question was followed by another silence. This time, longer than the first.

"Well, uh, let's go!" Luigi punched his fist into the air, trying to seem fearless and enthusiastic.

"Well, okay." Peach said grudgingly, "But if I get even _one_ ripped seam because of this, I'm making _you_ pay for it!"

"Why don't you just sew it yourself?" Daisy put a finger to her chin, puzzled. "I mean, you made quick work of those curtains earlier this week."

Peach gave the clueless princess a death-glare, "Now is _not _the time to bring that up, Daisy dear."

Mario slapped a hand to his face, "Let's just get this over with…"

"Yo…" (Yeah.)

"That's the spirit!" Luigi jumped up and ran down the hill heading for the bridge, the other following close behind. He screeched to a stop just before stepping onto it. "Er… ladies first."

"What? No way!" Peach and Daisy skidded to a stop beside Luigi, followed by Yoshi and Joe.

Unfortunately, Mario, who was bringing up the rear, was unable to stop in time (as he was still coming down the hill) and crashed into Toadsmill, who stumbled into Yoshi, who fell forward onto Joe.

Well, we ALL know what happens when you land on top of a koopa troopa: he goes into his shell!

So… Joe popped into his shell.

"Ouch…" Mario picked himself up from on top of Yoshi. He rubbed his head bad temperedly, "Why'd we stop?"

"We're trying to figure out who goes first across this bridge." Luigi motioned towards the cheep-cheep bridge.

"Not us!" Daisy and Peach announced.

"Yo-yoshi shi yo! Shi yo-yo yoshi!" (You're all such babies! I'll go across first if it'll stop your arguing!) Yoshi jumped up from the ground and, with a huff, took a step towards the bridge…

… and accidentally kicked Joe's shell.

"WAAAAH!" The koopa troopa's missle-like shell rocketed off across the bride, knocking cheep-cheeps left and right.

"Everyone, quick!" Luigi scrambled onto the rickety boards, "CHARGE!"

Luigi, Mario, Peach, Daisy, Yoshi, Toadsmill, and Mario all raced after Joe, dodging the cheep-cheeps flying in the small koopa troopa's wake.

At the end of the bridge, everyone jumped as Joe's shell ricocheted off the last plank of the bridge and began zooming back towards them.

As soon as the koopa troopa's protection was gone, the cheep-cheeps attacked in force. Everyone dove off the bridge.

"Yipe!" Mario yelped, a cheep-cheep grazing his red plumber's cap.

Safe at last, everyone but Luigi collapsed on the ground, breathing heavily.

"What are you guys all lying around for?" Luigi pointed over the next hill, "The purple shy-guy is getting away!"

"Weege, give us a sec." Mario panted.

Toadsmill, gasping for breath, raised his hand faintly and asked a question (hoping to distract Luigi from going on) "What do we do about Joe?"

The green-clad plumber waved a hand dismissively, "He'll be fine, so long as he doesn't come out of his shell. Now hurry up! Pleeeeeeease!" he begged, desperate to catch up with the purple shy-guy.

"Okay, okay. Keep your overalls on, bro." Mario stood up, dusting off his behind.

"Quick! He's probably just over this hill!" Luigi ran as fast as humanly possible up the brush-covered hill.

It was a tall hill. And steep. And the further they went, the more shrubbery there was. Soon, they were plowing through a veritable up-hill _jungle_.

"Huff… huh… how… much farther…?" Peach gasped. She wiped sweat from her delicate brow with a soft, gloved hand.

Ironically, the second the princess voiced her complaint, the ground leveled out.

They had reached the top.

"Oh. Nevermind." Peach said.

And there, at the top, was a wide, grassy clearing.

"Hey, guys! Check out that wide, grassy clearing!" Toadsmill pointed.

And in the middle of the wide, grassy clearing, was a house.

"And there's a house in the middle of it!" Daisy exclaimed.

Well, actually, it was more like a cottage. The old-fashioned kind, you know, with a thatched roof and everything.

"Yo-yo-yo shi-shi! Yoshi?" (Sweet! I've always wanted to see one of these! Is it true you can eat the thatch?)

Also, next to the house, was a large, green warp-pipe.

"Looks kind of like the drain under our sink…" Mario stroked his mustache.

Ahem… _I'm_ the narrator. Will you guys be quite and just let me do my job!

"Er… sorry." The group apologized sheepishly.

Anyways, as I was saying, next to the house, was a large, green warp-pipe.

And, lo and behold, there, standing in front of the large, green warp-pipe, was… dramatic pause… _the purple shy-guy_.

He stood there, stock-still, his plate of spaghetti balanced carefully on top of his yellow, polka-dotted party hat.

"What's he doing?" Daisy whispered, forcing herself to the front of the group.

"I dunno. I can't see." Luigi mumbled, "I'm going to find a better place to watch from."

"You mean a better vantage point?" Toadsmill offered.

"Whatever!"

He crept carefully around the clearing, taking care to avoid snaking roots and dry twigs.

Luigi found a place directly to the purple shy-guy's left, and crouched there, watching.

Almost immediately, he was joined by his brother, Mario.

"This is it…" he said in a hushed voice, "We finally get to see what the purple shy-guy is doing with that plate of spaghetti…"

"… and find out where he got that incredibly fashionable hat." Peach, who had also joined them, added.

"You think he'd tell us where he got that cool mask too?" Daisy slipped in-between Mario and Peach, much to their annoyance.

Yoshi poked his head through the bushes, "Yo-yoshi. Shi-shi yoshi." (He'd better. After all the trouble we've gone through…)

"I'm hungry…" Toadsmill commented randomly, so as not to be left out of the last, climactic exchange of dialogue.

They all waited, their gazes trained on the purple shy-guy.

They watched intently as the purple shy-guy stood in front of the large, green warp-pipe.

Standing.

Standing.

Standing.

Luigi could hear the shy-guy's breathing.

Peach could hear a bug buzzing around.

Daisy didn't hear the bug, or she would have freaked out.

Yoshi could hear Toadsmill chewing gum.

Mario smacked the bug.

Toadsmill swallowed the gum.

The bug died.

The author decided to end this meaningless update on everyone's activities.

After a seemingly endless expanse of time, (either two hours, or twenty-six seconds. No one could be sure.), the purple shy-guy reached up, taking hold of the steaming plate of spaghetti resting on his party hat.

He held it reverently for another seemingly endless expanse of time, and then, without further ado, tossed it into the warp-pipe. After doing so, he proceeded to dance around the warp-pipe happily.

The group in the bushes all stared.

"… That was it?" A disappointed look spread over Luigi's face.

"Yoshi yo shi-shi!" (That didn't even make sense!)

Mario could see the empty look in his brother's eyes. He patted him on the back, "Hey, don't worry about it, bro. At least we found out what he was doing with all that spaghetti."

"But… but… there must be something more!" Luigi stammered, "Some reason for him to do it! An overbearing boss, or… or a monster that needs appeasing, or _something_! This was just… just… a waste of time!" The bitter plumber threw his cap onto the ground and turned to go.

"Er… but what about his incredibly fashionable hat?" Peach shifted uncomfortably, brushing twigs from her dress.

"Yeah, we didn't find out about that yet!" Daisy piped up.

"Hold up, Weege." Mario caught Luigi by the collar, "We can't go just yet."

"How do we ask the shy-guy if he always runs away when he sees us?" Toadsmill asked.

"I've got an idea." Mario announced, fishing in Luigi's overalls for a moment. He made a face, and pulled out a half-eaten bologna sandwich, "What the… Luigi! I thought I told you to throw this thing away!"

"But that would be wasting food!" Luigi screwed up his face, "Like that shy-guy wasted that spaghetti! Ugh, I hadn't even _thought_ of that yet!"

Mario tossed the sandwich aside and resumed searching. "Aha!" He pulled out the shiny hubcap Luigi had picked up earlier. "Wait here just a second."

Holding the hubcap over his face like a mask, Mario broke cover and walked into the purple shy-guy's clearing.

"Hey, uh, purple shy-guy!" Mario called, trying his best to make his voice sound kind of squeaky, like a shy-guy's.

The purple shy-guy stopped dancing and turned to Mario, "Oh, my!" he exclaimed in a high-pitched voice, "It's been a long time since I've had visitors!"

"Um… yeah." Mario mumbled, "Say, I've got some friends hiding in the bushes, you mind if they come out too?"

"Friends? Of one with such a shiny, round mask? Of course!"

"And you won't run away?"

The purple shy-guy cocked his head, "Nope."

"Just making sure. Hey guys! Come on out!" Mario waved the others into the clearing.

Upon seeing the others, the purple shy-guy's face clouded, "Hey… you're those creepy stalker guys who were trying to take my spaghetti! Ha, well you're too late THIS time, you spaghetti-snatching psychos!"

This statement seemed to shock Luigi out of his funk, "What? Take your spaghetti? No! We just wanted to know what you were doing with it!"

"And where you got that incredibly fashionable hat!" Peach and Daisy added.

"… what? Hat? Fashionable?" The purple shy-guy shuddered.

Toadsmill's brow furrowed, "What's the matter?"

"I'm afraid of fashion." Came the small, squeaky answer.

"Afraid… of fashion!" Peach paled, looking as though she would faint.

Daisy _did_ faint. Yoshi just barely managed to catch her.

"Yeah… awkward, I know." The purple shy-guy shuffled his feet, kicking at a tiny rock.

"So… if you don't mind me asking…" Luigi removed his cap shyly, "Why are you throwing platefuls of spaghetti down this warp-pipe?"

The purple shy-guy perked up immediately and began to hop up and down, "Because… it's fun! You should try it sometime! To see all the noodles zooshing away… it's great! I don't really like spaghetti anyway."

"What!" Mario gaped, dropping his hubcap mask. "Then why do you make it every day?"

"Hey, you're not a shy-guy!" The purple shy-guy frowned. After a moment of considering whether to freak out or not, he shrugged, "Er… I won a lifetime supply of the stuff from Gary Goomba's Grocery Store. I've got to get rid of it somehow! It's cluttering up my whole house…"

"Purple shy-guy," Luigi threw an arm around the small, purple shy-guy, "Have you found the right people for the job!"

"… you mean, you'll help me get rid of the spaghetti?" The purple shy-guy looked up at Luigi incredulously.

"We'll have your place cleaned out in no time flat!" Mario rubbed his round stomach, indicating the size of his appetite.

"All right!" The purple shy-guy cheered, "Let's go to my place!"

"We'll have to hurry," Toadsmill squeaked, "It's almost dark!"

"No we won't! I live right there!" The shy-guy pointed to the cottage next to the warp pipe.

"… you live right next to the warp-pipe!" Luigi's mouth hung open, "But then… why do you walk all over the Mushroom Kingdom to get here!"

The purple shy-guy looked up innocently, "It's the scenic route."

"… good enough for me!" Luigi grinned, "Let's go get something to eat!"

The others all cheered.

"Yo-yoshi shi-yoshi-shi?" (Can I get a little help here?) Yoshi dragged the still-fainted Daisy a few feet.

"Oh, just leave her out here." The purple shy-guy advised from his doorstep, "She'll be fine. Plus, my house is a little… cramped… at the moment." He opened the door, and twenty-or-so boxes of spaghetti tumbled out into the clearing.

Yoshi laid Daisy gently in the soft grass, "Yo… yoshi. Shi-yo!" (Well… all right. Let's go!)

Chattering happily, the group, (minus Daisy), crammed into the purple shy-guy's house. Toadsmill was the last to go in.

He paused outside the door, and ran back to peer down the warp-pipe, "I wonder where this goes…?"

"Toadsmill? Are you coming?" Peach's voice came from inside the house.

"Oh, er, yes, your highness!" He cast one last look at the warp-pipe, and scurried inside, shutting the door behind him.

The already lengthening shadows in the clearing lengthened yet more as the sun sunk slowly behind the horizon.

The group inside decided they would stay the night at the shy-guy's place.

Soon, the happy sounds of plumbers, dinosaurs, and toads eating spaghetti died down, and were gradually replaced with soft snores. Softer than chainsaws, anyway.

In the middle of the night, when moonlight shone brightly down in the shy-guy clearing, Daisy stirred.

"Hm… mm…" She opened her eyes, sitting up groggily. She yawned, and rubbed her eyes. Then, suddenly, a bolt of knowledge seemed to strike her. Her eyes widened, and she cried out excitedly, "I… I remember where I'm from! My kingdom! I remember!"

At this moment, Joe's shell, (with Joe inside), came zipping up the hill.

Daisy, however, didn't notice. She was too ecstatic, "I can't believe I remember! I had better shout this to the world before something happens to make me forget!" She struck a heroic pose, just as Joe's shell hit a rock and bounced into the air at Daisy's head level, "I am Daisy, princess of-"

'WHACK!'

"… rats…" Daisy wavered, and dropped back to the ground, unconscious.

After bouncing on Daisy's head, the small koopa troopa's shell flew threw the air and 'plunk' right into the warp-pipe…


	17. Epilogue:What happened to the Spaghetti?

_Zhoop-zhoop-zhoop…_

(Um… that's supposed to be the warp-pipe sound.)

-

In a deep, dark, subterranean lair…

"… and then, with this huge, tearing, wood-splintering sound, the whole place came down! I'm tellin' you pop, it was the best party EVER!" Baby Bowser skipped around his dad energetically.

"Yeah yeah. Sounds like fun." Bowser growled, trudging down the deep, dark subterranean halls of his lair, "Now buzz off. I've got something important to do."

Baby Bowser cried hyperly, "What is it? What is it? What is it? What is it?"

"It's too important for you to understand!" Bowser snapped at his son. He pushed open a large, wooden door studded with metal spikes, "Ah, here we are!"

"The warp-pipe room?" Baby Bowser glanced up at his dad inquisitively.

"Yes. The warp-pipe room." Bowser narrowed his eyes, "Now run along and cause some destruction, or something."

"Aw, but pop…." Baby Bowser whined, "I wanna come with you!"

"Maybe when you're older," Bowser slammed the door shut and locked it before his son could argue further.

The warp-pipe room was aptly named, for it was a large, stone chamber with a green warp-pipe in the center of the floor.

Bowser pulled out a watch. "Ah, it's almost time." He checked the lock on the door, and glanced around suspiciously to make sure no one was watching.

Satisfied that no one was in the room, he cleared his throat and began to sing in a deep, throaty bass,

"_I'm a little teapot,_

_short and stout._

_Here is my handle._

_Here is my spout."_

He held up his clawed hands to indicate his handle and spout.

"_When I get all steamed up,_

_Hear me shout:_

_Tip me over _

_And pour me out!"_

Bowser finished the song, and held out his hands in front of himself.

Immediately, a big, steaming plate of spaghetti topped with big meatballs popped up out of the warp-pipe, landing right in his hands.

With a huge grin plastered on his face, Bowser scooped up a claw-full of the spaghetti and shoved it greedily into his mouth.

After cleaning the plate, he dropped it back into the warp pipe.

Grunting with satisfaction, Bowser unlocked the door and trudged out of the room, growling to himself, "I don't know _why_ it works… but it _works_."

A few minutes passed.

There was a small clicking of claws on the hard, stone floor, and Baby Bowser poked his head into the room.

He scampered inside, closing the door behind him. "So… what's so special about this warp-pipe anyway?"

Baby Bowser poked the green pipe with a claw.

_Zhoop-zhoop-zhoop!_

Out popped Joe, the expendable koopa troopa. He stuck his head out of his shell shakily, "Wh-what happened?"

Baby Bowser growled excitedly, "Dude, you just got warp-piped down here!"

"Warp-piped?" Joe looked clueless. "Hey, then that means I didn't get expended!"

"Uh… sure. Whatever that means." Baby Bowser scratched his head. Suddenly, he did a double-take, "Hey, you're one of the koopa troopas I saw at Yoshi's party!"

"Hey, you're that little rapper guy that almost drowned in the cake at Yoshi's party!" Joe exclaimed.

"That was me!" Baby Bowser stuck out a scaly hand, "I'm Baby Bowser, what's your name?"

"Joe." He shook Baby Bowser's hand.

The young koopa glared at Joe suspiciously for a moment, "Say… you're not the one who tried to pin-the-tail on me… are you?"

"Er…" Joe faltered.

"… Because that was a great idea!" Baby Bowser cheered, "Next time, let's pin-the-tail on Luigi!"

"Okay!" Joe, upon hearing he wasn't about to be pummeled, brightened.

"Friends?" Baby Bowser grinned.

"Friends!" Joe grinned too.

"Awesome!" Baby Bowser threw an arm around Joe's shoulders, "C'mon! Let's go raid the fridge."

"All right!"

_**The End**_

* * *

_Author's note: Thank you all for checking out this fic!_

_Leave me a review, and tell me your favorite parts!... or something I should work on for next time._

_Thanks again for reading!_

_... and... that's the best I can do for wrapping this all up._

_The Fiercesomest Dragon Ever has LEFT the building!_

_Thank you, goodnight!_


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